College Football Begins Today!!!

Go ahead, give in to the urge, and headbutt your co-workers*, because the D-IA schedule of college football begins today. The first day of the college football season is better than Christmas, because while December 25 only comes once a year, this day heralds many, many more Saturdays, Sundays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays to come, filled with the greatest sport on Earth, college football.

Everything begins with the Presbyterian Blue Hose of the Big South Conference taking on Wake Forest at 5:30 PM in a game that will be shown streaming on ESPN3. Marshall opens their season at #2 Ohio State in a nice Conference USA-Big Ten matchup that will be featured on the Big Ten Network at 6:30 PM. Terrelle Pryor begins his Heisman campaign in earnest tonight.

Other games:

• Florida A&M @ #13 Miami, 6:30 PM (ESPN3)
• Northern Illinois @ Iowa State, 6:30 PM (FSN)
• Towson @ Indiana, 6:30 PM (Big Ten Network)
• Norfolk State @ Rutgers, 6:30 PM (ESPN3)
• Minnesota @ Middle Tennessee, 6:30 PM (ESPNU)
• Southern Miss @ South Carolina (ESPN, ESPN3)
• #15 Pittsburgh @ #24 Utah, 7:30 PM (Versus)
• #14 USC @ Hawai'i, 10 PM (ESPN, ESPN3)

• Although I am tempted to log in and watch some of the Wake Forest game just because I want to watch the Blue Hose in action (love that name!!), that is the only reason to watch a game in which the Demon Deacons should roll.
• In any other year, Ohio State-Marshall might be a really good game, but with the coaching turnover and attrition Marshall has had, I think this is a comfortable blowout win for Ohio State, Tressel-style, so it will be something like 34-3.
  
• Florida A&M is the school that pioneered the showband style of marching, and they have had one of the best college marching bands in the nation every year since then. The "Marching 100"(watch the video) is really the only reason to tune into this game, because Miami will roll on the Rattlers.
  
• This should be a good game to watch, as Paul Rhodes begins his second season at Iowa State. Iowa State lost a lot, but returns star RB Alexander Robinson, who finished second in the Big 12 in rushing with 1195 yards last season.Northern Illinois has a solid RB themselves, as Chad Spann rushed for 1038 yds and 19 TDs last season. I'll be watching to see how Iowa State's defense fairs against a team that averaged 195 yards per game rushing last season. It should be a fun game ot watch if you like solid running and hard-nosed defense. Hopefully, we'll see a lot of both this game.
• Indiana was fun to watch on offense last season as they ran their version of the Pistol offense. As someone who loves college football because of the diversity of offenses shown, that is reason enough to click over to this game if you can get it in your area.
  
• Norfolk State @ Rutgers: Keep ESPN3 on the Florida A&M-Miami game. It really is a helluva band.
• I'm kind of surprised to see Minnesota traveling to Murfreesboro to face the Blue Hens of Middle Tennessee State, unless this was a three-for-one deal on the part of the Golden Gophers. Minnesota has a new stadium, I don't see why they wouldn't try to fill it up at every opportunity. The Golden Gophers should beat the Blue Hens, but given the speed differential in this game, it will probably only be a ten point final margin for Dave Winfield's alma mater.
• I guess Steve Spurrier is getting to where he likes the exposure of having South Carolina play on ESPN on the first Thursday of the season; he opened last season with a 7-3 win over North Carolina State on ESPN on Thursday, September 3. Larry Fedora will have his Southern Miss team ready, but I think South Carolina wins a defensive struggle, 17-13.
  
• The only game we have featuring two ranked teams, Utah and Pittsburgh should be a good game between two defensive-minded head coaches in Kyle Whittingham and Dave Wannestedt. If you haven't had a chance to see Pittsburgh's exceptional RB, Dion Lewis, here is your first chance. Since it is the first game of the season and it is at Rice-Eccles, I'm tempted to go with Utah, but somehow I have a feeling Pitt will eke this one out with their running game. I'll think the Panthers win a close one, 21-17.
• The fun doesn't stop late, as we get to see Lane Kiffin make his head coaching debut for a BCS program for the second year in a row as the Trojans take on Hawai'i. While I'd love to see the Warriors pull the upset, even with the distractions of the beach tugging at them, I still like USC to win this one. It might be an ugly game, but I just don't see Greg McMackin leading his team to a win over USC. Add in the fact that this is the first chance USC's players have had to get on the field since they were put on probation and their postseason was taken away from them, and the SC players could be looking at this as a statement game.